1986–87 Liverpool F.C. season

Liverpool

1986–87 season
Chairman	John W Smith
Manager	Kenny Dalglish
First Division	2nd
FA Cup	Third Round
League Cup	Runner-up
Super Cup	Winners
Top goalscorer	League: Ian Rush (30) All: Ian Rush (40)
Highest home attendance	44,827 (v Everton, League, 25 Apr)
Lowest home attendance	13,498 (v Fulham, League Cup, 23 Sept)
Average home league attendance	36,284
Home colours Away colours
← 1985–86 1987–88 →

The 1986–87 season was the 95th season in Liverpool F.C.'s existence, and their 24th consecutive year in the top-flight, and covered the period from 1 July 1986 to 30 June 1987.

It was their second season under the management of Kenny Dalglish, and as defending double winners they finished this season trophyless, coming close to silverware as league runners-up and losing finalists in the League Cup. They finished runners-up in the league nine points behind local rivals Everton, after an eventful title race which had seen them fight out with a resurgent Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur as well as face surprise challenges during the season from unfancied sides including Norwich City, Luton Town and newly promoted Wimbledon.

At the end of the season, striker Ian Rush headed to Italy to sign for Juventus. His successor in the Liverpool attack, John Aldridge, had been signed during the season from Oxford United. After the season ended, Dalglish further enhanced Liverpool's forward positions with a move for Newcastle United striker Peter Beardsley and Watford winger John Barnes.

Squad

Goalkeepers

• Bruce Grobbelaar
• Mike Hooper

Defenders

• Gary Ablett
• Jim Beglin
• Gary Gillespie
• Alan Hansen
• Mark Lawrenson
• John McGregor
• Steve Nicol
• Steve Staunton
• Barry Venison
• Alex Watson

Midfielders

• Kenny Dalglish
• Craig Johnston
• Sammy Lee
• Kevin MacDonald
• Steve McMahon
• Jan Mølby
• Brian Mooney
• Steve Nicol
• Mark Seagraves
• Nigel Spackman
• John Wark
• Ronnie Whelan

Attackers

• John Aldridge
• John Durnin
• Alan Irvine
• Ian Rush
• Paul Walsh

Transfers

In

Pos	Player	From	Fee	Date
DF	Barry Venison	Sunderland	£200,000	31 July 1986
DF	Steve Staunton	Dundalk	£20,000	2 September 1986
FW	Alan Irvine	Falkirk	£75,000	October 1986
FW	John Aldridge	Oxford United	£750,000	27 January 1987
MF	Nigel Spackman	Chelsea	£400,000	24 February 1987

Out

Pos	Player	To	Fee	Date
MF	Sammy Lee	QPR	£200,000	August 1986

Table

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1.	Everton	42	26	8	8	76	31	+45	86
2.	Liverpool	42	23	8	11	72	42	+30	77
3.	Tottenham Hotspur	42	21	8	13	68	43	+25	71
4.	Arsenal	42	20	10	12	58	35	+23	70
5.	Norwich City	42	17	17	8	53	51	+2	68
6.	Wimbledon	42	19	9	14	57	50	+7	66
7.	Luton Town	42	18	12	12	47	45	+2	66
8.	Nottingham Forest	42	18	11	13	64	51	+13	65
9.	Watford	42	18	9	15	67	54	+13	63
10.	Coventry City	42	17	12	13	50	45	+5	63
11.	Manchester United	42	14	14	14	52	45	+7	56
12.	Southampton	42	14	10	18	69	68	+1	52
13.	Sheffield Wednesday	42	13	13	16	58	59	-1	52
14.	Chelsea	42	13	13	16	53	64	-11	52
15.	West Ham United	42	14	10	18	52	67	-15	52
16.	Queen's Park Rangers	42	13	11	18	48	64	-16	50
17.	Newcastle United	42	12	11	19	47	65	-18	47
18.	Oxford United	42	11	13	18	44	69	-25	46
19.	Charlton Athletic	42	11	11	20	45	55	-10	44
20.	Leicester City	42	11	9	22	54	76	-22	42
21.	Manchester City	42	8	15	19	36	57	-21	39
22.	Aston Villa	42	8	12	22	45	79	-34	36

Matches

First Division

Main article: 1986–87 Football League § First Division

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Report 1	Report 2
23-Aug-86	Newcastle United	A	2–0	Rush  5', 83'	33,306	Report	Report
25-Aug-86	Manchester City	H	0–0		39,989	Report	Report
30-Aug-86	Arsenal	H	2–1	Mølby  pen 19' Rush  57'	38,637	Report	Report
03-Sep-86	Leicester City	A	1–2	Dalglish  85'	16,344	Report	Report
06-Sep-86	West Ham United	A	5–2	Whelan  24' Johnston  51' Dalglish  66', 90' Rush  70'	29,807	Report	Report
13-Sep-86	Charlton Athletic	H	2–0	Mølby  pen 56' Rush  80'	37,413	Report	Report
20-Sep-86	Southampton	A	1–2	McMahon  62'	20,452	Report	Report
27-Sep-86	Aston Villa	H	3–3	Wark  pen 24', 43' McMahon  79'	38,298	Report	Report
04-Oct-86	Wimbledon	A	3–1	Mølby  50' Rush  56', 90'	15,978	Report	Report
11-Oct-86	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0–1		43,139	Report	Report
18-Oct-86	Oxford United	H	4–0	Rush  29', 89' Dalglish  33' Mølby  pen 53'	34,512	Report	Report
25-Oct-86	Luton Town	A	1–4	Mølby  pen 81'	13,140	Report	Report
01-Nov-86	Norwich City	H	6–2	Nicol  15' Walsh  30', 58', 75' Rush  48', 70'	36,915	Report	Report
08-Nov-86	Queens Park Rangers	A	3–1	Rush  9' Nicol  15' Johnston  76'	24,045	Report	Report
16-Nov-86	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1–1	Rush  58'	28,020	Report	Report
23-Nov-86	Everton	A	0–0		48,247	Report	Report
29-Nov-86	Coventry City	H	2–0	Mølby  pen 24' Wark  90'	31,614	Report	Report
06-Dec-86	Watford	A	0–2		23,954	Report	Report
14-Dec-86	Chelsea	H	3–0	Whelan  31' Rush  51' Nicol  78'	25,856	Report	Report
20-Dec-86	Charlton Athletic	A	0–0		16,564	Report	Report
26-Dec-86	Manchester United	H	0–1		40,663	Report	Report
27-Dec-86	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1–0	Rush  64'	40,959	Report	Report
01-Jan-87	Nottingham Forest	A	1–1	Rush  88'	32,854	Report	Report
03-Jan-87	West Ham United	H	1–0	McMahon  86'	41,286	Report	Report
17-Jan-87	Manchester City	A	1–0	Rush  72'	35,336	Report	Report
24-Jan-87	Newcastle United	H	2–0	Walsh  53' Rush  79'	38,054	Report	Report
14-Feb-87	Leicester City	H	4–3	Rush  29', 47', 86' Walsh  30'	34,259	Report	Report
21-Feb-87	Aston Villa	A	2–2	Johnston  1' Walsh  62'	32,093	Report	Report
28-Feb-87	Southampton	H	1–0	Aldridge  60'	33,133	Report	Report
07-Mar-87	Luton Town	H	2–0	Mølby  pen 17' Own Goal  39'	32,433	Report	Report
10-Mar-87	Arsenal	A	1–0	Rush  20'	47,777	Report	Report
14-Mar-87	Oxford United	A	3–1	Wark  35', 63' Rush  53'	14,211	Report	Report
18-Mar-87	Queens Park Rangers	H	2–1	Rush  18', 71'	28,988	Report	Report
22-Mar-87	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–1		32,763	Report	Report
28-Mar-87	Wimbledon	H	1–2	Dalglish  47'	36,409	Report	Report
11-Apr-87	Norwich City	A	1–2	Rush  36'	22,879	Report	Report
18-Apr-87	Nottingham Forest	H	3–0	Dalglish  34' Whelan  51' Ablett  68'	37,359	Report	Report
20-Apr-87	Manchester United	A	0–1		54,103	Report	Report
25-Apr-87	Everton	H	3–1	McMahon  9' Rush  45', 85'	44,827	Report	Report
02-May-87	Coventry City	A	0–1		26,709	Report	Report
04-May-87	Watford	H	1–0	Rush  82'	40,150	Report	Report
09-May-87	Chelsea	A	3–3	Rush  9' McMahon  77' Aldridge  84'	29,245	Report	Report

FA Cup

Main article: 1986-87 FA Cup

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Report 1	Report 2
11-Jan-87	Luton Town	A	0–0		11,085	Report	Report
26-Jan-87	Luton Town	H	0–0		34,822	Report	Report
28-Jan-87	Luton Town	A	0–3		14,687	Report	Report

League Cup

Main article: 1986–87 Football League Cup

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Report 1	Report 2
23-Sep-86	Fulham	H	10–0	Rush  8', 76' Wark  10', 63' Whelan  28' McMahon  44', 66', 71', 79' Nicol  83'	13,498	Report	Report
07-Oct-86	Fulham	A	3–2	McMahon  2' Own Goal  6' Mølby  pen 43'	7,864	Report	Report
29-Oct-86	Leicester City	H	4–1	McMahon  5', 7', 60' Dalglish  30'	20,248	Report	Report
19-Nov-86	Coventry City	H	0–0		26,385	Report	Report
26-Nov-86	Coventry City	H	3–1	Mølby  pen 4', pen 39', pen 72'	19,179	Report	Report
21-Jan-87	Everton	H	1–0	Rush  83'	53,323	Report	Report
11-Feb-87	Southampton	A	0–0		22,818	Report	Report
25-Feb-87	Southampton	H	3–0	Whelan  67' Dalglish  75' Mølby  85'	38,481	Report	Report

Final

Main article: 1987 Football League Cup Final

Arsenal v Liverpool

5 April 1987 15:15 BST

Arsenal	2–1	Liverpool
Nicholas  30', 83'	Report Report	Rush  23'

Wembley, London Attendance: 96,000 Referee: Lester Shapter (Devon)

Arsenal

Liverpool

GK 1 John Lukic RB 2 Viv Anderson LB 3 Kenny Sansom (Captain) CM 4 Steve Williams CB 5 David O'Leary CB 6 Tony Adams RM 7 David Rocastle CM 8 Paul Davis CF 9 Niall Quinn CF 10 Charlie Nicholas LM 11 Martin Hayes Substitutes: MF 12 Perry Groves  Quinn' MF 14 Michael Thomas  Hayes' Manager: George Graham

GK 1 Bruce Grobbelaar RB 2 Gary Gillespie LB 3 Barry Venison CM 4 Nigel Spackman LM 5 Ronnie Whelan CB 6 Alan Hansen (Captain) CF 7 Paul Walsh  73' RM 8 Craig Johnston CF 9 Ian Rush CM 10 Jan Molby CM 11 Steve McMahon  87' Substitutes: FW 12 Kenny Dalglish  73' MF 14 John Wark  87' Player / Manager: Kenny Dalglish

Super Cup

Main article: Super Cup (English football)

Final First Leg

Liverpool v Everton

16 September 1986

Liverpool	3–1	Everton
Rush  6', 65' McMahon  56'	Report Report	Sheedy  40'

Anfield, Liverpool Attendance: 20,660

Liverpool

Everton

LIVERPOOL: GK 1 Mike Hooper RB 2 Barry Venison LB 3 Jim Beglin CB 4 Mark Lawrenson LM 5 Ronnie Whelan CB 6 Gary Gillespie SS 7 Kenny Dalglish RM 8 Steve Nicol CF 9 Ian Rush CM 10 Kevin MacDonald CM 11 Steve McMahon Substitute: MF 12 John Wark MF 14 Jan Mølby Player/Manager: Kenny Dalglish

EVERTON: GK 1 Bobby Mimms RB 2 Peter Billing LB 3 Paul Power CB 4 Kevin Ratcliffe (c) CB 5 Ian Marshall CM 6 Kevin Langley RM 7 Neil Adams ST 8 Paul Wilkinson ST 9 Graeme Sharp CM 10 Trevor Steven LM 11 Kevin Sheedy Substitute: MF Warren Aspinall Manager: Howard Kendall

Second leg

Everton v Liverpool

30 September 1986

Everton	1–4	Liverpool
Sharp  30'	Report Report	Rush  10', 27', 84' Nicol  62'

Goodison Park, Liverpool Attendance: 26,068

Everton

Liverpool

EVERTON: GK 1 Bobby Mimms RB 2 Peter Billing LB 3 Paul Power CB 4 Kevin Ratcliffe (c) CB 5 Derek Mountfield CM 6 Trevor Steven RM 7 Neil Adams CM 8 Adrian Heath ST 9 Graeme Sharp ST 10 Paul Wilkinson LM 11 Kevin Sheedy Substitute: MF Warren Aspinall DF Neil Pointon Manager: Howard Kendall

LIVERPOOL: GK 1 Bruce Grobbelaar RB 2 Gary Gillespie LB 3 Jim Beglin CB 4 Mark Lawrenson LM 5 Ronnie Whelan CB 6 Alan Hansen (c) SS 7 John Wark RM 8 Steve Nicol CF 9 Ian Rush CM 10 Jan Mølby CM 11 Steve McMahon Substitute: FW 12 Paul Walsh DF 14 Barry Venison Player/Manager: Kenny Dalglish

Liverpool won 7–2 on aggregate

References

• LFC History.net – Games for the 1986-87 season
• Liverweb - Games for the 1986–87 season